Sesame Panko Chicken Strips

Now with Garlic Knots!

So as quickly as my wonderful "weekend" began, it is now drawing to a close.

In a few hours I'll go to bed and wake up and quick be off to a week of 12 hour graveyard shifts. But this weekend was great, I got a lot accomplished.

Last night I baked calzones and cinnamon pull apart bread, yeah old news. Who cares if I made the calzones with delicious meatballs this time, and even one with barbecue chicken?

But what you don't know is there I was baking away, minding my own business when what creeps into my kitchen? A crayfish? A tiny lobster? Wrong. Scorpion, friends.

Here is mighty Jim, capturing it in a salsa jar. Thank God for Pinterest or I never would have saved that salsa jar to turn into some sort of hare-brained craft. On a side note, however, I've realized that now that I've been pinteresting like a fiend, when one of my friends sees something cool I've made or cooked or whathaveyou, no longer will they be like, Oh wow you're so creative! No, no, those days are over. Now they're going to say, Oh yeah...I saw that on Pinterest like a month ago. Anyway, enough with the side notes, there's a scorpion on the loose!

And this photo was taken after much begging and pleading with Jim (as well as eye-rolling and strongly worded protest on his part) to lift the jar for just a second because I needed to get a "better" picture. There were several attempts. And may I just add that scorpions run in incredibly rapid circles around the bottoms of salsa jars? Utterly terrifying.

So now that you've seen scary bugs you're ready to hear about more food, right? Absolutely.

So anyway, then tonight I whipped up sesame encrusted chicken strips, adapted from skinny taste, as well as garlic knots, adapted from joy the baker.

I loved this chicken recipe because it is low fat and low cal, and the chicken actually came out moist! Unbelievable, I know.

Sesame Panko Chicken Strips
(makes about 4 servings of 2 strips each)

Ingredients

18 oz chicken tenderloins
pepper and garlic powder to taste
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp low sodium soy sauce
6 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1/2 tsp course salt
4 tbsp panko
olive oil spray

Season chicken lightly with pepper and garlic powder to taste.

Combine soy sauce and sesame oil in one bowl, set aside.

In another bowl, mix sesame seeds, salt, panko.

Dip chicken in soy sauce mixture to coat, followed by the sesame seeds mixture. Make sure each strip is coated evenly with the sesame seeds.

Place strips on a lightly greased baking pan. Spray strips lightly with the oil spray.

Bake at 415 degrees for 10 minutes, turn, and bake an additional 6 minutes.



Parmesan Garlic Knots
(makes about 5-6 knots)

Dough

1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 tsp additional olive oil

Garlic Topping

2 cloves very finely minced garlic
1 Tbsp melted butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp parsley
1 Tbsp parmesan cheese

Directions

Dissolve yeast in sugar and water, let sit for 5 minutes until frothy.

Whisk together flours and salt. Add the yeast mixture and the oil, stirring until combined.

Knead the dough on a floured surface for about 5 minutes, then place in a bowl with 1 tsp olive oil, flip the dough to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise 40 minutes.

Roll out the dough into a 6x6'' square, approximately.

Cut into 5-6 1 inch strips. Tie the strips into a knot, tucking the ends into the rest of the knot. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment and let rest, covered for 20 minutes.

Bake at 415 for 13-15 minutes. While baking, combine garlic topping ingredients and mix.

Remove from oven and immediately, brush the topping onto the rolls. Serve immediately.


And there you have it. Have a good one!